The Shoebox
by Splash123
Summary: Ginny wrote nearly a hundred letters to Harry during his time away during the war, stashing all of them in a shoebox. Three and a half years later, she finds them again and decides to show him.
1. August 1, 1997

**The Shoebox**

**I don't own Harry Potter, Ginny, or the HP universe.**

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Ginny took a deep breath. _You wrote these to him, he deserves to get them!_ she chided herself. Still, it didn't stop her hands from shaking, or her voice from trembling. "Hey, Harry?"

Harry looked up at his wife, who was standing anxiously in the doorway, a shoebox in her hand. "Yes?"

Ginny dropped the box into his lap. "I was helping Mum clean the Burrow today and I found these in my closet. They're from the war. I want you to read them."

Harry was puzzled. "What are they?"

"Letters. To you." Ginny started to speak faster. "You don't have to read them all at once. There's way too many for that. But you should still read them. I mean, if you want to. You don't have to. They're in order."

Harry carefully opened the box and was greeted by the sight of about a hundred letters. "Holy—I was only gone for eight months!"

Ginny smiled wanly. "Yeah, well, that's a long time." She kissed him on the cheek. "I'm dead tired. I think I'm going to go to bed. Come up when you're ready." Turning around, she fought to keep the sob from rising in her throat. Three and a half years had not healed the hurt of losing him.

"Yeah…" Harry was already reaching for the first letter.

_

* * *

__August 1, 1997_

_Dear Harry,_

_So you're gone. Off with Ron and Hermione. _Great.

_I mean, I knew you were leaving. It's not like a big shock or anything. You told all of us. We all knew that you would be out of here the day after Bill and Fleur's wedding, it didn't take a genius to figure that out. But I guess if you had left in the middle of the night, we would have known you guys had a plan and would keep safe, at least for that night. Now we don't know anything, and it's so hard. You better be okay. I don't know what I'd do if you were dead._

_As you guys were leaving, the Order was getting people out safely. George grabbed me and dragged me into the house. I was going nuts at the time. I was so close to grabbing your arm or something as you Apparated so I would be taken with you. Of course that would have meant you were traveling with the Trace, and the Death Eaters would have found you right away and we all would have been dead and the Wizarding World would have been screwed with you gone. So that was probably good that he stopped me, but it was still completely overprotective, so I screamed at him and scared him half to death right before going up to my room to write this. He's not very pleased with me right now. Anyway, he stopped me and used magic to tie me up and then he did Disillusionment and Silencing Charms on me. So I was kept hidden, which I didn't like. That's another reason why I screamed at him. Afterwards, the Death Eaters came in and found us (including me) and tortured us for your whereabouts. It hurt like hell. I figure that pretty soon it'll hit me like a load of bricks that I was tortured, but right now I'm pretty numb inside. It scares me, feeling nothing. I'd almost rather be upset. I guess that's why I'm writing this. When I think about you, I'm not numb. Far from it. I get so happy, and my heart starts beating really fast, and I have to concentrate so I remember to breathe. And when I'm missing you, I have to suck in the air and I feel like there is a knife in my heart. I want to feel this pain. I want to feel alive._

_I know we're technically not together more. I also know that your heart is fighting with your nobility. Your nobility is saying to let me go, let me date "safer" people, let me be free from Death Eaters going after me because I'm your girlfriend. But your heart is saying that I'm yours and you actually want me to wait for you. Your nobility will hate me, but guess what: I'm siding with your heart. I love you. Yeah, I know I never told you that in so many words, but hopefully you got that message in your birthday gift. You better not die, because I need to see you again and tell you that those few short weeks together were the best weeks of my life. I imagine my future, and you're always in it. Standing next to me at our wedding. Holding our first kid. Sitting on the porch watching our grandkids running around. Maybe you don't feel this way, but I need to see you again so I can find out whether I can count on this._

_Please, take care of yourself. Please come home to me._

_Love, Ginny_

* * *

Harry stood up and tiptoed upstairs. He slipped open the door and peeked at his wife, sleeping quietly, knowing she was loved by him. Thin silvery tear tracks marked her cheeks. He'd never realized that leaving her had caused so much pain.

Crossing the room, he gently kissed her cheek. "I love you too, Ginny," he murmured.

Taking a deep breath, he went downstairs and reached for the next letter.

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**I hope you guys liked it! I'll be posting a lot more letters soon. Please review! It makes me happy :)**


	2. August 3 and 8, 1997

Thanks for all the reviews!

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_August 3, 1997_

_Dear Harry,_

_I hope you're okay, and that wherever you are, you're safe. Like you'd actually be safe anywhere right about now. But still. Don't do anything stupid._

_I highly doubt that you're going to listen to that, especially because you're not going to be getting this letter. But hopefully your common sense is telling you the same thing. And also, if I'm lucky, Hermione's keeping you and my brother in line. I made her promise me at Bill's wedding that she would bring all three of you back alive. I know that that doesn't mean anything, because she has so little control over it, but I need that to help me feel better. She also promised to keep you away from the veela, so listen to her! She WILL hex you._

_Mum's barely letting me leave the house. Dad goes for work in the morning and comes home at night, and Fred and George come round for meals nearly every day, so all of them have some independence. I have none. Mum freaks out when I'm not in either the kitchen or the living room. Yesterday I sat on my bed to listen to music with my door closed, and when she couldn't find me on the first floor, she went insane. When she finally found me, she was crying so hard. The stress is killing her, and it's only been forty- eight hours of this. That's another reason why you need to come home soon: to give Mom some relief. And me too. I understand why she's being so annoying, but it's already grating on my nerves._

_I honestly don't know why I'm writing this. I can't send it, after all. I knew I had to destroy the last letter just in case the Death Eaters found it somehow, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Instead I found Ron's horrible old dress robes. (the ones he wore to the Yule Ball. Remember those? I'm sure you do. They're burned into my memory and I can't get rid of it, no matter how hard I try.) I put the letter into to the pocket of the robes and hung it up in my closet. I figure no Death Eater will want to touch them._

_Sorry, I've got to go. It's been a whole ten minutes since Mum last saw me alive, and I can hear her starting to tear the house apart. I better go find her._

_Love, Ginny_

* * * * *

Harry sucked in a breath. Poor Molly. Poor Ginny.

He didn't want to read any more, didn't want to find out what other ways he'd hurt the people he loved. But then he remembered Ginny's face.

If Ginny could survive what she was writing about, he could survive reading them.

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_August 8, 1997_

_Dear Harry,_

_I got my Hogwarts letter today, a bit earlier than previous years. It felt so weird, seeing only one letter on a plate at breakfast. It's always been at least two, for as long as I can remember. McGonagall is still Deputy Headmistress, but they didn't even say who the Headmaster is. I'm sure it will be a Death Eater. Mum is so glad that we have all the books already from all my brothers so she doesn't have to go into Diagon Alley._

_Right away I sent off and owl to Neville and Luna. I'm trying to get the DA started up again so we can fight. Neither one has responded, but I'm sure they'll be in on it. They have to be. There is no way I could do this alone, and with you and Ron and Hermione gone, they are my only options._

_Fred and George just got here for dinner, so now I need to go pretend that I'm excited to go back to Hogwarts and I'm not worried about you and the others at all. But I am. I'm so worried that the three of you won't make it back alive. Last night I had a nightmare that we were at a huge battle in a place that looked like the Great Hall at Hogwarts and Hagrid was carrying around your dead body. I woke up crying and I was so scared I ran to the bathroom to throw up. I know that's not going to happen, but it still struck me hard in the heart and I'm even more terrified than I was earlier. So I guess what I'm saying it, please, please, please stay safe._

_Love, Ginny_

_* * * * *_

Harry replaced both the letters into the shoebox and returned to the bedroom, startled at Ginny's eerily prophetic dream. Careful to be quiet, he brushed his teeth and slid into bed, pulling her close.

Very gently, so as not to wake her, he kissed her cheek. "You are the bravest woman I know," he whispered.

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**Reviews are great!**


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